Last bushing and the method of making the same



Nov. 26, 1929.

v H. o. DAVIS LAST BUSHING AND THE METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed July 12 1928 I I n venZBr Hazy 017 :1123 wflwk 3%)7117 Patented Nov. 26, 1929 UNITED STATES HENRY O. DAVIS, OF BROGKTON, MASSACHUSETTS LAST BUSHING AND THE METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Application filed July 12, 1928.

This invention relates to a metal bushing or thimble, insertible in a hole bored for its reception in a last, the hole and bushing being employed in some cases to receive a pin or bolt which temporarily secures a wood heel to a lasted shoe, and in other cases, to secure a jack spindle which supports the last while certain operations are being performed on a shoe thereon.

The chief object of the invention is to provide a cheap and serviceable tubular bushing provided with an integral flange of greaterthickness than that of the tube wall, and adapted to bear on the crown of a last and withstand any pressure to which it may be subjected, the flange having a rounded margin of a predetermined diameter and requiring no trimming.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the blank from which the flanged bushing is made.

Figure 2 shows in perspective a tube formed by bending the blank and having a longitudinal butt oint adapted to be opened.

Figures 8 and 4 illustrate the operation of forming the reinforced flange.

Figure 5 shows the bushing in section, its flange being partly formed.

Figure 6 shows the bushing in section, its flange being completed.

Figure 7 is an end view of the bushing shown by Figure 4.

Figure 8 is a sectional view, showing the heel end of a last and a bushing inserted in a hole extending through the last.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

12 (Figure 1) designates a rectangular blank cut from sheet metal of suitable thickness for the tubular body of the bushing. The blank is bent to separably abut two of its opposite edge faces together, as shown by Figure 2, thereby forming a tube 13, having the butt joint designated by 14, and adapted to be opened at the end to facilitate the eX- pansion of an end portion of the tube, as hereinafter described.

The major or body portion of the tube is then confined against expansion, and an end Serial No, 292,315.

portion thereof is left free to expand. This may be accomplished by inserting the major portion in a confining die 15, having a tube receiving cavity from which an end portion of the tube projects. While the tube is thus confined, endwise pressure is exerted on the projecting end by a pressing head or ram 16, movable toward the die 15, and acting to first bulge the projecting portion, as in F igure 3, and then flatten the same as in Figure 4. This operation outwardly bends. an inner Zone of the projecting portion of the tube, and inwardly bends an outer zone thereof, and presses it against the inner zone to form a flange composed of an inner layer 17, an outer layer.18, and a neck 19, connecting said layers and forming the margin of the flange.

The abutting edge faces forming the butt joint portion in the projecting end of the tube are separated from each other by the pressure of the ram to facilitate the formation of the flange, so that the flangemay be accurately formed by a relatively light pressure, the separated edge portion causing a V-shaped opening 20 in the flange, as shown by Figure 7.

It will be seen that the thickness of the reinforced flange is practically double that of the blank 12, and that the outer surface of the neck provides the flange with a smooth rounded margin. 7

When the bushing is inserted in a hole 21, bored through the heel end of a last 22, it may be of about the size indicated by Figure 8. The preceding figures show the bushing considerably enlarged.

The flange is formed wholly by endwise pressure 011 an unconfined open end of a tube, and requires no trimming or other finishing. The end of the tube which contacts with the ram 16 is not expanded and rendered ragged by the flange-forming operation, so that it does not have to be trimmed. The diameter of the flange is determined by the neck 19, the rounded external surface of which forms a rounded neck of predetermined diameter, requiring no trimming.

The inner flange layer 17 is adapted to be seated on the crown of the last as shown by Figure 8. The outer layer 18 constitutes the pressure-receiving outer end of the bushing and reinforces the inner layer and prevents distortion thereof by pressure exerted on the last.

I claim:

1. A last bushing composed of a metal tube provided at one end with an integral laminated flange, composed of an inner layer projecting outwardly from the body of the tube, and adapted to be seated on the crown of a last, a neck projecting laterally from the inner layer, and a reinforcing outer layer projecting inwardly from the neck and bearing on the inner layer, said outer layer forming the exposed pressure-receiving end of the bushing and preventing distortion of the inner layer by pressure exerted on the last, said neck having a rounded periphery form- 'ing the outer margin of the flange, the thickness of each of said layers being substantially equal to that of the tube wall, so that the thickness of the flange is greater than that of said Wall, the tube having narrow abutting longitudinal faces forming a longitudinal butt joint at one side of the tube and separable from each other at the flange end, so that the formation of said flange is facilitated.

2. That improvement in the method of making a last bushing, which consists in providing a rectangular metal blank, bending said blank, and separably abutting two opposite edge faces of the blank together, to

form a tube having a longitudinal butt joint,

confining the major portion of the tube against expansion and leaving an end portion thereof free to expand, and exerting end- Wise pressure on said end portion while the major portion is confined, and thereby outwardly bending an inner zone of the end portion, inwardly bending an outer zone thereof, and opening the joint in said end portion, to form a flange composed of an inner layer adapted to be seated on the crown of a last, a reinforcing outer layer projecting inwardly from the neck and bearing on the inner layer to prevent distortion thereof by pressure exerted on the last, and a rounded neck connecting said layers and forming the margin of the flange, the separability of said edge faces facilitating the formation of said flange.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

HENRY O. DAVIS. 

